If you are on Twitter and are a hockey fan, one of the most popular trending hash tags is #IsitOctoberYet. The tag is almost always attached with a tweet in which the writer expresses some form of longing for hockey season to start.

As temperatures up here in the Northeast began to plummet this week into the 60’s, there are abundant reminders that hockey season is in fact right around the corner (besides, you know, looking at your calendar or something.)

In that spirit, I present to you the five reasons to begin looking forward to hockey season, start looking at your pickup hockey equipment, checking your skates to see if they need sharpening before you hit the local rinks, and, of course, actually seeing brand new original programming on the NHL Network after a summer of reruns.

And in the spirit of Twitter, we’ll do it in hash tag and @ forms (with the exception of one for obvious reasons).

#Jagr
The return of Jaromir Jagr to the National Hockey League was always going to be a story, but the fact that he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers, the long time rivals of the team he is most identified with during his illustrious NHL career, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

When it became known that Jagr would be leaving Avangard Omsk of the KHL to resume his North American career four years after he left, he was generally assumed he was returning for a grand finish in the City of Bridges; to play with the latest generation of Penguins stars in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and to revitalize their sputtering power play.

Little did anyone know that the Flyers would swoop in with a 1 year $3.3 million dollar offer, eclipsing anything that Pens GM Ray Shero was willing to offer. It will be a fascinating sight to see Jagr wearing his #68 jersey in front of fans who used to mercilessly whistle at him when his follicles were a little longer in the back.

@NHLFlyers
In addition to Jagr, the Philadelphia Flyers shockingly had one of the biggest roster shakeups seen in NHL history, turning over a roster that in 2010 was within two victories of a Stanley Cup championship. The reshuffling was set into motion when the team traded for the rights of G Ilya Bryzgalov and then signed him to a long term deal.

The subsequent dominoes saw team captain Mike Richards, scorer Jeff Carter, forwards Ville Leino, Dan Carcillo, Kris Versteeg, Nikolai Zherdev, and Darroll Powe, along with defensemen Sean O’Donnell head for the departure gate, while through trades and free agency, the team added Jagr, wingers Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek, forward Maxime Talbot, top prospect Brayden Schenn, along with veteran defenseman Andreas Lilja.

Adding the intrigue of watching this team attempt to gel while under the watchful HBO cameras this season will make the Flyers a must see attraction this season. Which, of course, brings us to…

#WinterClassic
The NHL has yet to formally announce the now traditional event that draws the interest of even the most casual hockey viewer, all indications point to this year’s Winter Classic coming to Philadelphia’s Citizen’s Bank Park (season ticket holder notification of ticket purchasing procedures, the league scheduling a game on January 2nd, coincidental league mandates on Social Media when a player tweets information about HBO pre tapings, and things of that sort) with the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers the likely combatants.

The elements play a level of intrigue for this game, as this will be the furthest south it’s been in terms of locale. Add to the mix the fact that the winds at CBP can be notoriously wicked, possibly leading to some new interesting in game developments, depending on whether it’s played during the day or at night as it was in Pittsburgh.

Any way you look at it: The Winter Classic has truly become the league’s Super Bowl event.

@NHLJets
The return of the Winnipeg Jets is an exciting and league changing event. The former Atlanta Thrashers were unable to find suitable ownership and the lack of attendance at their games (you could see empty seats in the Phillips Arena bowl extending into the second period) allowed Mark Chipman and the True North Group to propose the purchase and relocation of a franchise who has only been to one postseason and were unceremoniously swept out by the Rangers.

The Jets previous iteration had difficulties maintaining a viable franchise during the 1990’s, forcing their relocation to Phoenix. However, this time there are several factors working in Whiteout Country’s favor: the Canadian dollar’s return to strength, an NHL caliber arena in the MTS Centre that is being refitted as we write this, Chipman’s group commitment to stability, and a NHL starved fan base ready for a return by their beloved team (albeit it in brand new navy- and aviator- blue uniforms).

Winnipeg Jets 2.0 is ready for launch. Welcome back.

A Long Summer And Too Many Losses
Hashtags would be too trite to describe the loss of life suffered by the hockey world this summer. The untimely deaths of current NHL players Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien and recently retired Wade Belak was compounded exponentially by an unspeakable tragedy in Russia as 43 members of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team were killed in a horrific plane crash. The losses included notable former NHLers, such as Pavol Demitra, Ruslan Salei, Josef Vasicek, Karlis Skrastins, and head coach Brad McCrimmon, were felt internationally. The games may go on this season, but the sport will carry a very heavy heart with too many taken from us too young this summer.
October is fast approaching and we have many reasons to be thankful that hockey is back, but always keep those lost close in your thoughts. Honor their memory while celebrating the return of the game they played with the same passion and love that you all have.
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Follow me on Twitter @AnthonyMingioni for the latest Philadelphia Flyers and NHL news
Email me at: anthonymingioni@yahoo.com

@photo by Feldman